Play chess inside VS Code against your own UCI engine, running fully
local — no HTTP server, no API keys, no network calls.
Your engine binary (chess.exe or any UCI-compatible engine) is spawned
directly by the extension host and controlled over stdin/stdout, exactly the
way a GUI like Arena or Cute Chess talks to an engine.
Features
Drag-and-drop or click-to-move board, legal-move hints, check highlighting
Full move history with branching + keyboard navigation (← → ↑ Home/End)
FEN / PGN import and export
Independent White-bot / Black-bot toggles — watch the engine play itself,
or play against it as either color
Per-side search-depth selector and live depth/nodes/time stats
Board flip, sound effects, promotion picker
Requirements
You need your own UCI-compatible chess engine executable. This extension
does not ship one. See Setup below.
Getting started
Install the extension.
Copy your engine binary into the extension's engine/ folder (see the
Setup Guide for exact steps), or set chanakya.enginePath in
Settings to point at it.
Open the Command Palette → Chanakya: Open Chess Board.
Toggle the bot switch on either player panel to have the engine play
that side.
Extension Settings
Setting
Description
Default
chanakya.enginePath
Absolute path to your engine executable
"" (uses bundled engine/chess.exe)
chanakya.defaultMovetimeMs
Default thinking time per move (ms)
1000
chanakya.defaultDepth
Fixed search depth (0 = use movetime instead)
0
chanakya.maxEngineInstances
Warm engine processes kept in the pool
2
Commands
Chanakya: Open Chess Board
Chanakya: New Game
Chanakya: Flip Board
Privacy
Nothing in this extension makes a network request. All engine communication
happens over local stdin/stdout between the extension host and your binary.
